Half of Democrats Say Putting Hillary's Name in Nomination Will Help Unify Party

[Ron Burgundy]

Rasmussen Reports - One third of voters nationwide (33%) agree with Barack Obama that allowing Senator Hillary Clinton's name to also be placed in nomination at the Democratic National Convention will "help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion." But slightly more (40%) believe it will hurt party unity.

Among Democrats, 48% say the move will help on the unity front while 28% disagree. Among unaffiliated voters, 43% say the move will hurt while 27% hold the opposite view.

Clinton quit the race for the Democratic presidential nomination on June 7 after Obama had secured enough delegates largely through the primary process to be the party's nominee.

In a statement yesterday, Clinton said, "With every voice heard and the party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama president of the United States." But 24% of Democrats say it's at least Somewhat Likely that Clinton herself will end up as the Democratic standard bearer. That figure includes 11% who say it's Very Likely Clinton will be the nominee.

Overall, 49% of voters have a favorable opinion of the former first lady, and an identical number (49%) hold an unfavorable view of her. Those figures are slightly less positive than reviews for either Barack Obama or John McCain. Seventy percent (70%) of Democrats have a favorable opinion of Clinton. Just 45% of African-Americans feel that way, however, while 52% offer a negative assessment.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of Democrats rate Clinton's conduct as good or excellent since dropping out of the presidential race. Fifty-four percent (54%) of all voters agree. Those figures are down slightly from a week ago. Last week's survey also found that 63% of Democrats ?????? and 62% of all voters -- think it is likely that Clinton will run for president in 2012 if Obama loses this November.

Clinton's decision to quit the race was highly emotional for her supporters, including many women who hoped she would be the first woman presidential candidate of a major national political party. Democrats feared a large portion of these women voters might not support Obama, even though Clinton and her husband, the former president, have gone out of their way to endorse Obama's candidacy.

Clinton is expected to speak to the convention on Tuesday, August 26, the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage, and a group of her supporters already have secured permission to march through Denver, the site of the convention, on that day.

Overall, voters by a 45% to 38% margin say Obama will do better against McCain than Clinton. Democrats agree ?????? 54% saying Obama will do better, 38% that Clinton would. Unaffiliated voters are more evenly divided.

In a mid-July survey, Clinton was seen as a better candidate against McCain than Obama.

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This national survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports on August 14, 2008. The margin of sampling error for each survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/rasmussen/20080815/pl_rasmussen/hillarynomination20080815 [link]